Yesterday I decided it would be better if I think of my final two weeks here as 'holidays'. (Because if I don't I'll feel that much more bored, unfortunately.)
Last week we went to Doron's sports awards and his valedictory service. It's summer holidays for Doron now! (He has made lots of arrangements so he isn't actually home most of the time.)
I also went to my last write in of the year; not a lot of writing happened but we did meet a new girl (she managed to talk without a break for 2 1/2 hours straight. Amazing.) On Sunday we had Joshua's birthday party (soccer party + art ... it was kind of boring, to be honest... I have pictures but not with me in them so I won't bother posting those...)
Yesterday I went to Jenny to grab some books to read (she has an amazing collection). I couldn't choose so I took 7(!) books... now, I'm not going to finish reading all of them, I'm sure... but at least it gives me something to do when I'm incredibly bored.
I also got this wonderful headache yesterday night - it was still there when I woke up this morning. The joy. Anyway, it seems to be gone now (Panadol did the trick) but I really hope it won't come back! Ugh.
This week I have several more 'events' planned; tomorrow evening is Ariella's valedictory (some schools start high school in grade seven, others in grade eight... So even though the kids aren't the same age they're both leaving primary school this year.) Friday is the Japari staff lunch (and my final goodbye to the awesome Japari people :(). Then on Sunday it's the 'TGIO' (Thank God It's Over) party for Nano... and ... that's it. No plans as of yet for next week, but I'm sure things will come up - they always do.
I can't wait for the flight (even if I wouldn't actually go home - I just love flying!) and I can't wait to see my parents and sister again. It's been long enough now.
Posts tonen met het label reading. Alle posts tonen
Posts tonen met het label reading. Alle posts tonen
dinsdag 30 november 2010
maandag 15 november 2010
Busy times
And another week gone by! Less than four weeks left in South Africa.
Writing Temerity has been a bit easier and more fun during the last week. I went to two more write-ins (not as productive as the ones after week one, but I'm one of the luckier participants who don't really have to worry about their word count so I'm not complaining) and even went to see a movie with some girls from shul (the synagogue).
About the movie (because I think people understand what write ins are like by now), last Wednesday (or Thursday, or Tuesday? My memory isn't too great it seems) I went to Ster Kinekor in Rosebank together with Sarit, Tova and Nadine. I hadn't met Tova before, but she's awesome. She's studying to be a primary school teacher so we had a nice teacher-y chat (oh and she's just crazy - in a good way - so it was a lot of fun to talk to her anyway). Initially Sarit had picked a different movie to see (didn't quite catch the title of that one) but we ended up seeing 'Life as we know it' instead. Drama comedy.
Now, I don't usually do comedies, at all. But this one was actually quite good. I didn't get bored and while the story was pretty predictable it was still more than entertaining. On our way back we had to stop at a petrol station and wait for the worst of the rains to stop because Nadine has an old, old car (no seatbelts in the back! Scary!) and her windscreen got very, very greasy/blurry once the pouring rain started. So we chatted some more before finally going home.
We usually go to bed around 9~10 pm here. That night I only got home about 11.30 pm so it was quite late... The next morning, however, I woke up before the alarm (at 6) and had lots of energy. So, good times!
Japari
I went to Japari on Thursday and Friday last week. The Friday wasn't according to plan, but hey sometimes you have to help out, yah? One of the teacher's father was in hospital and she couldn't teach the grade fours for the day. So I did. English, maths and Afrikaans. My very favourite subjects *insert sarcasm for the last two in the list*. Maths wasn't too bad (they're grade four after all!) but Afrikaans got tricky when the instructions told the kids to draw a 'Sambreel' (die tegen die boom leun). I really, really had no clue as to what a Sambreel could be. Eventually I allowed one of the kids to go ask the teacher next door ;) Turns out it's an umbrella.
So I wasn't just taking some lessons, no I was a proper class teacher for the day :)
Grade 4 is very, very different from the grade sevens. You actually have to, you know... teach. (Sure, that happens with the grade sevens, too... but about 30 % of the time, if not more, you're just trying to get them to BE QUIET OKAY?!?!?). Grade fours will just stare at you "So, what happens next?". They were more challenging than I had expected, but it was a good day nonetheless.
Then on Monday I had to take Ingrid's grade six class for a full hour before their Afrikaans exam started. Ingrid had to be at a meeting and I just had to get them to study for their exams. Easier said than done when there is this wonderful, yet horrible, boy in this particular group. Oh, and we had to sign a card for one of the learners because... his dad died last Friday. The teachers also had to write something, so I did... It's always hard to find the right words for situations like those, if there are 'right words' to say. It really shows you that teaching is very diverse, you deal with all sorts situations.
Other than that, though, I also did two reading lessons with some grade fives. Reading lessons are real 'remedial' lessons. 1 teacher, 2 learners. Very different from teaching a class full of kids. I prepared a lesson (half hour) about the Netherlands with a short text, a list of 'Did you know that...'s and some questions the teacher can use. Mrs Dale (the usual reading teacher) actually asked me to do a follow up lesson on Thursday because one of the kids was so enthusiastic about it. It was a joy to teach these kids and challenge them by asking for synonyms for some words and just have a discussion about the topic. After that was over I had a short chat with Mrs Dale and she told me to 'never give up' and, to my surprise, that I'm a 'natural' at this kind of teaching (remedial, have the patience necessary (apparently!) and that she was very impressed with my lesson. Positive feedback is always nice to hear!
Some more on Nano:
Temerity current word count: 37k+
Goal for the day: Get to 40k
Plot complete: About 80~85 %
Percentage of 'random'/filler scenes in the last 37k: 5~10% (more than I would like but certainly still acceptable)
How much I'm in love with this story right now: 40% (try to stay positive, try to stay positive)
Funniest moment during Nano so far: I always thought people were joking when they said they accidentally used the name of one of their characters for someone in real life. Friday with the grade fours I called Emma 'Tesza', I had to try very, very hard not to giggle out loud (because you know, teachers don't do giggling ;)). I managed but it was a close call. It felt so ridiculous, but I guess I'm more into the story than I thought I was, after all.
Writing Temerity has been a bit easier and more fun during the last week. I went to two more write-ins (not as productive as the ones after week one, but I'm one of the luckier participants who don't really have to worry about their word count so I'm not complaining) and even went to see a movie with some girls from shul (the synagogue).
About the movie (because I think people understand what write ins are like by now), last Wednesday (or Thursday, or Tuesday? My memory isn't too great it seems) I went to Ster Kinekor in Rosebank together with Sarit, Tova and Nadine. I hadn't met Tova before, but she's awesome. She's studying to be a primary school teacher so we had a nice teacher-y chat (oh and she's just crazy - in a good way - so it was a lot of fun to talk to her anyway). Initially Sarit had picked a different movie to see (didn't quite catch the title of that one) but we ended up seeing 'Life as we know it' instead. Drama comedy.
Now, I don't usually do comedies, at all. But this one was actually quite good. I didn't get bored and while the story was pretty predictable it was still more than entertaining. On our way back we had to stop at a petrol station and wait for the worst of the rains to stop because Nadine has an old, old car (no seatbelts in the back! Scary!) and her windscreen got very, very greasy/blurry once the pouring rain started. So we chatted some more before finally going home.
We usually go to bed around 9~10 pm here. That night I only got home about 11.30 pm so it was quite late... The next morning, however, I woke up before the alarm (at 6) and had lots of energy. So, good times!
Japari
I went to Japari on Thursday and Friday last week. The Friday wasn't according to plan, but hey sometimes you have to help out, yah? One of the teacher's father was in hospital and she couldn't teach the grade fours for the day. So I did. English, maths and Afrikaans. My very favourite subjects *insert sarcasm for the last two in the list*. Maths wasn't too bad (they're grade four after all!) but Afrikaans got tricky when the instructions told the kids to draw a 'Sambreel' (die tegen die boom leun). I really, really had no clue as to what a Sambreel could be. Eventually I allowed one of the kids to go ask the teacher next door ;) Turns out it's an umbrella.
So I wasn't just taking some lessons, no I was a proper class teacher for the day :)
Grade 4 is very, very different from the grade sevens. You actually have to, you know... teach. (Sure, that happens with the grade sevens, too... but about 30 % of the time, if not more, you're just trying to get them to BE QUIET OKAY?!?!?). Grade fours will just stare at you "So, what happens next?". They were more challenging than I had expected, but it was a good day nonetheless.
Then on Monday I had to take Ingrid's grade six class for a full hour before their Afrikaans exam started. Ingrid had to be at a meeting and I just had to get them to study for their exams. Easier said than done when there is this wonderful, yet horrible, boy in this particular group. Oh, and we had to sign a card for one of the learners because... his dad died last Friday. The teachers also had to write something, so I did... It's always hard to find the right words for situations like those, if there are 'right words' to say. It really shows you that teaching is very diverse, you deal with all sorts situations.
Other than that, though, I also did two reading lessons with some grade fives. Reading lessons are real 'remedial' lessons. 1 teacher, 2 learners. Very different from teaching a class full of kids. I prepared a lesson (half hour) about the Netherlands with a short text, a list of 'Did you know that...'s and some questions the teacher can use. Mrs Dale (the usual reading teacher) actually asked me to do a follow up lesson on Thursday because one of the kids was so enthusiastic about it. It was a joy to teach these kids and challenge them by asking for synonyms for some words and just have a discussion about the topic. After that was over I had a short chat with Mrs Dale and she told me to 'never give up' and, to my surprise, that I'm a 'natural' at this kind of teaching (remedial, have the patience necessary (apparently!) and that she was very impressed with my lesson. Positive feedback is always nice to hear!
Some more on Nano:
Temerity current word count: 37k+
Goal for the day: Get to 40k
Plot complete: About 80~85 %
Percentage of 'random'/filler scenes in the last 37k: 5~10% (more than I would like but certainly still acceptable)
How much I'm in love with this story right now: 40% (try to stay positive, try to stay positive)
Funniest moment during Nano so far: I always thought people were joking when they said they accidentally used the name of one of their characters for someone in real life. Friday with the grade fours I called Emma 'Tesza', I had to try very, very hard not to giggle out loud (because you know, teachers don't do giggling ;)). I managed but it was a close call. It felt so ridiculous, but I guess I'm more into the story than I thought I was, after all.
zondag 24 oktober 2010
Books books books
Books I've finished since last time I mentioned reading:
Brent Weeks - Beyond the Shadows
Brent Weeks - Shadow's Edge
Rick Riordan - The Lightning Thief
Rodman Philbrick - Freak the Mighty
Deborah Ellis - The Heaven Shop
Erik van Lustbader - The Miko
Cecilia Dart-Thornton - The Ill-made Mute
Cecilia Dart-Thornton - The Lady of the Sorrows
I've done quite a bit of reading, which brings my total for this year to 41 books (goal was to read at least 30).
While on the topic of reading, I'd like to mention one of my new favourite websites: Shelfari (http://www.shelfari.com/ and my profile: http://www.shelfari.com/misssavara ).
Shelfari is a place to keep an online version of your 'shelf' (hence "Shelf-ari" (haha, Safari for books!)). You can make friends you actually know, or friends that have a similar taste in reading as you do. It's a wonderful place to review books, discover new authors and just show off how much you read ;)
The books of this list that have made the best impression/were the most interesting are: Freak the Mighty & The Heaven Shop.
'Freak the Mighty' is a book I picked up in a second-hand store for a mere 10 Rand (about a Euro). It's tiny book with a quirky story. It's about two 'special' boys. Freak is huge, but not very smart... The other boy is very smart, but tiny (and has lots of problems with his body). Once they make friends they're always together and live through wonderful adventures (that Freak never really understands, but enjoys all the same). Eventually the smaller boy dies, and it's all very emotional.
It's a powerful story in an unlikely package. I really enjoyed it.
'The Heaven Shop' is a Southern African story (not South African, I think it's set in one of the other countries here). It's about Binti, a girl who plays on a radio soap in her native language. After her father dies (presumably of aids) she gets schlept around the country to ungrateful family and eventually to some other family member. It's about how HIV/aids affects a community and how people deal with the misconceptions surrounding the disease. Once again a powerful tale. It's fiction, but it could just as easily have been based on a true story.
I actually got 'The Heaven Shop' to read for my lesson series on South(ern) African literature.
Brent Weeks - Beyond the Shadows
Brent Weeks - Shadow's Edge
Rick Riordan - The Lightning Thief
Rodman Philbrick - Freak the Mighty
Deborah Ellis - The Heaven Shop
Erik van Lustbader - The Miko
Cecilia Dart-Thornton - The Ill-made Mute
Cecilia Dart-Thornton - The Lady of the Sorrows
I've done quite a bit of reading, which brings my total for this year to 41 books (goal was to read at least 30).
While on the topic of reading, I'd like to mention one of my new favourite websites: Shelfari (http://www.shelfari.com/ and my profile: http://www.shelfari.com/misssavara ).
Shelfari is a place to keep an online version of your 'shelf' (hence "Shelf-ari" (haha, Safari for books!)). You can make friends you actually know, or friends that have a similar taste in reading as you do. It's a wonderful place to review books, discover new authors and just show off how much you read ;)
The books of this list that have made the best impression/were the most interesting are: Freak the Mighty & The Heaven Shop.
'Freak the Mighty' is a book I picked up in a second-hand store for a mere 10 Rand (about a Euro). It's tiny book with a quirky story. It's about two 'special' boys. Freak is huge, but not very smart... The other boy is very smart, but tiny (and has lots of problems with his body). Once they make friends they're always together and live through wonderful adventures (that Freak never really understands, but enjoys all the same). Eventually the smaller boy dies, and it's all very emotional.
It's a powerful story in an unlikely package. I really enjoyed it.
'The Heaven Shop' is a Southern African story (not South African, I think it's set in one of the other countries here). It's about Binti, a girl who plays on a radio soap in her native language. After her father dies (presumably of aids) she gets schlept around the country to ungrateful family and eventually to some other family member. It's about how HIV/aids affects a community and how people deal with the misconceptions surrounding the disease. Once again a powerful tale. It's fiction, but it could just as easily have been based on a true story.
I actually got 'The Heaven Shop' to read for my lesson series on South(ern) African literature.
dinsdag 19 oktober 2010
My day as a substitute.
This week has been a rather hectic one. Lots of things happened, but the 'main event', so to say, was the fact that I taught a whole day - by myself - because one of the teachers was absent. (And an adventure it was. I had to teach EMS (Economic Management Science) and maths. Anyone who knows me even a tiny little bit knows that those aren't really 'my' kind of subjects!
When I arrived in the morning Ingrid waved her hands frantically at me and said "I had forgotten you would come in today! I have to talk to you!" but as we were in the middle of the announcements for the week it had to wait for a few minutes. Immediately after the headmaster had concluded his speech she approached me and blurted out: "Could you please take the grade sixes until break-time?" I nodded without hesitation and Ingrid took my arm (after talking to some of the other teachers; the timetable had changed for the day so not everyone knew what they would be doing) and guided me to Mrs W's classroom. She handed me a piece of paper with basic instructions "6K - English (DEAR) 1st hour. 6K EMS (study mindmap about debt, banking and savings) 2nd hour - etc." and left me alone to figure things out. From outside of the classroom I heard "Grade six, please line up quietly! You can come in when you are told to come in." I took out my phone (because clocks are something that seems to be missing from most classrooms in South Africa) and took a deep breath.
"Good morning grade sixes! Come in please!" My day as a substitute teacher had officially begun.
In total I had to teach for 8 periods - the whole day minus 2 periods (a period is 30 minutes). I had one grade six group for 4 periods (EMS, maths and English reading), another grade six for EMS and maths (3 periods), and one grade seven group for EMS. It was a bit hectic to have to teach with less than 5 minutes notice. (I prefer to actually plan my lessons, thank you very much.) Overall it went very well, though. I'm happy and proud that Japari trusts me enough to let me teach by myself like this. (It makes me feel like a 'real' teacher ;) Whatever that means.) There were some challenges during the day, as expected, during the EMS lessons I didn't really know what to do. My instructions only mentioned a 'mindmap' when instead they had to study from something that was more like a summary/explanation than a mindmap. (So the grade sixes didn't know what to do - and I made a mindmap on the whiteboard with them... The problem in that being... I don't know much about debt, savings and banking! So I kept it simple, talking a bit about interest and tax and why credit cards can be dangerous - without explaining *how* these concepts work. Well, I'm studying English, not EMS, so it couldn't be helped, I'm afraid.)
After those lessons it was even harder to keep them interested in maths - I can't say maths interest me at all, so I couldn't blame the learners. They 'sort of tried' to do some work, but when some of the learners asked me some questions I was in trouble. I can blame the 'different ways of doing things', partially, but I couldn't really help them. After almost a full hour of doing maths it was clear they couldn't focus on it anymore (neither could I) so I decided to make a mindmap about 'The Netherlands' with them. We all enjoyed this, and then it was time for assembly!
Assembly is, as it is in the UK, something that most schools do. I love assemblies. They create a feeling of unity (as the whole school gets together for a change) and I love to see the grade noughts and grade ones sing songs, or see the older learners get certificates for their achievements in sports or tests. It's cute! And it's lovely when the whole school starts with "Good morning Mr. (Headmaster), good morning teachers!". It does, in fact, give you this warm and fuzzy feeling, just to know you're a part of this wonderful environment.
After break - second EMS lesson (different grade six group). This didn't go too well. It wasn't too bad, but they didn't feel like studying. Instead of the mindmap I wrote four questions on the board and had them answer these in their own words ("What is debt?" "How do people get into debt?" "What is interest?" and "Saving up for something is better than buying on credit. Explain why.) most learners merely copied the questions into their notebooks without answering them, however. 30 minutes is such a short time for a lesson!
The last 3 periods were ok. I even got some cake (I love primary schools, haha. Any reason for a party means all the teachers get cake!) when two girls from another group knocked on the door during class. This grade six did some more maths than the other one, and again I concluded the lesson by a few minutes of 'Let's talk about my country!'. Grade seven is always a bit more challenging (and awkward at times because my cousin is in this group) but they were better than usual.
Thoughts and feelings about the day:
"Like a real teacher!"
I'm proud that Japari feels confident in leaving me by myself to teach.
I felt calm while teaching, not scared or nervous (even when they didn't want to be quiet).
I'm confident I can do teaching as a job :)
It feels good to be useful, I was afraid this day was going to be another rather useless day (on Mondays I don't typically do much, so I'm glad I could help out).
I kind of hope I'll get another chance like this while I'm here - but I don't want to wish anyone harm, so I hope no one will get sick of the other teachers!
The rest of the day was about as busy - after school I took my cousin to Scusi's (an Italian restaurant around the corner) for a coffee (ice coffee for him) and a toasted cheese sandwich. My younger cousin's 'concert' (aka musical) was that same night, so we had a quick dinner before we rushed off to Crossroads school to see the "Wizard that Woz". It was cute, but also slightly boring, to see the whole musical (Joshua was only in 1 scene).
And Tuesday... I'm at the office because our receptionist is away for the day. More work, of a completely different kind, though! Answering the phone while doing some homework for Windesheim, oh well... it's the best way, because I'm sure I wouldn't have gotten so much done if I had stayed at home!
Other noteworthy things:
One of the teachers asked me "Where in America do you live?" (Me: "Ehm... I'm Dutch..." Teacher: "Oh so you understand Afrikaans?" (She continued in Afrikaans, I replied in English.)
- After 2 1/2 months at their school some teachers still didn't know I'm not a native speaker. That's like, so... cool! (*Insert American teenager-voice*)
When I arrived in the morning Ingrid waved her hands frantically at me and said "I had forgotten you would come in today! I have to talk to you!" but as we were in the middle of the announcements for the week it had to wait for a few minutes. Immediately after the headmaster had concluded his speech she approached me and blurted out: "Could you please take the grade sixes until break-time?" I nodded without hesitation and Ingrid took my arm (after talking to some of the other teachers; the timetable had changed for the day so not everyone knew what they would be doing) and guided me to Mrs W's classroom. She handed me a piece of paper with basic instructions "6K - English (DEAR) 1st hour. 6K EMS (study mindmap about debt, banking and savings) 2nd hour - etc." and left me alone to figure things out. From outside of the classroom I heard "Grade six, please line up quietly! You can come in when you are told to come in." I took out my phone (because clocks are something that seems to be missing from most classrooms in South Africa) and took a deep breath.
"Good morning grade sixes! Come in please!" My day as a substitute teacher had officially begun.
In total I had to teach for 8 periods - the whole day minus 2 periods (a period is 30 minutes). I had one grade six group for 4 periods (EMS, maths and English reading), another grade six for EMS and maths (3 periods), and one grade seven group for EMS. It was a bit hectic to have to teach with less than 5 minutes notice. (I prefer to actually plan my lessons, thank you very much.) Overall it went very well, though. I'm happy and proud that Japari trusts me enough to let me teach by myself like this. (It makes me feel like a 'real' teacher ;) Whatever that means.) There were some challenges during the day, as expected, during the EMS lessons I didn't really know what to do. My instructions only mentioned a 'mindmap' when instead they had to study from something that was more like a summary/explanation than a mindmap. (So the grade sixes didn't know what to do - and I made a mindmap on the whiteboard with them... The problem in that being... I don't know much about debt, savings and banking! So I kept it simple, talking a bit about interest and tax and why credit cards can be dangerous - without explaining *how* these concepts work. Well, I'm studying English, not EMS, so it couldn't be helped, I'm afraid.)
After those lessons it was even harder to keep them interested in maths - I can't say maths interest me at all, so I couldn't blame the learners. They 'sort of tried' to do some work, but when some of the learners asked me some questions I was in trouble. I can blame the 'different ways of doing things', partially, but I couldn't really help them. After almost a full hour of doing maths it was clear they couldn't focus on it anymore (neither could I) so I decided to make a mindmap about 'The Netherlands' with them. We all enjoyed this, and then it was time for assembly!
Assembly is, as it is in the UK, something that most schools do. I love assemblies. They create a feeling of unity (as the whole school gets together for a change) and I love to see the grade noughts and grade ones sing songs, or see the older learners get certificates for their achievements in sports or tests. It's cute! And it's lovely when the whole school starts with "Good morning Mr. (Headmaster), good morning teachers!". It does, in fact, give you this warm and fuzzy feeling, just to know you're a part of this wonderful environment.
After break - second EMS lesson (different grade six group). This didn't go too well. It wasn't too bad, but they didn't feel like studying. Instead of the mindmap I wrote four questions on the board and had them answer these in their own words ("What is debt?" "How do people get into debt?" "What is interest?" and "Saving up for something is better than buying on credit. Explain why.) most learners merely copied the questions into their notebooks without answering them, however. 30 minutes is such a short time for a lesson!
The last 3 periods were ok. I even got some cake (I love primary schools, haha. Any reason for a party means all the teachers get cake!) when two girls from another group knocked on the door during class. This grade six did some more maths than the other one, and again I concluded the lesson by a few minutes of 'Let's talk about my country!'. Grade seven is always a bit more challenging (and awkward at times because my cousin is in this group) but they were better than usual.
Thoughts and feelings about the day:
"Like a real teacher!"
I'm proud that Japari feels confident in leaving me by myself to teach.
I felt calm while teaching, not scared or nervous (even when they didn't want to be quiet).
I'm confident I can do teaching as a job :)
It feels good to be useful, I was afraid this day was going to be another rather useless day (on Mondays I don't typically do much, so I'm glad I could help out).
I kind of hope I'll get another chance like this while I'm here - but I don't want to wish anyone harm, so I hope no one will get sick of the other teachers!
The rest of the day was about as busy - after school I took my cousin to Scusi's (an Italian restaurant around the corner) for a coffee (ice coffee for him) and a toasted cheese sandwich. My younger cousin's 'concert' (aka musical) was that same night, so we had a quick dinner before we rushed off to Crossroads school to see the "Wizard that Woz". It was cute, but also slightly boring, to see the whole musical (Joshua was only in 1 scene).
And Tuesday... I'm at the office because our receptionist is away for the day. More work, of a completely different kind, though! Answering the phone while doing some homework for Windesheim, oh well... it's the best way, because I'm sure I wouldn't have gotten so much done if I had stayed at home!
Other noteworthy things:
One of the teachers asked me "Where in America do you live?" (Me: "Ehm... I'm Dutch..." Teacher: "Oh so you understand Afrikaans?" (She continued in Afrikaans, I replied in English.)
- After 2 1/2 months at their school some teachers still didn't know I'm not a native speaker. That's like, so... cool! (*Insert American teenager-voice*)
donderdag 14 oktober 2010
"BE QUIET!" said Zak.
The last week has been rather challenging in some ways. I wouldn't say I'm exactly homesick but I'm not all that happy here, either. Just two more months to go, though, so I'm sure I'll manage!
Our internet connection has been giving us some trouble yet again. I phoned both Mweb and Telkom (service provider as well as the telephone company that handles the actual line-related things) but got nowhere in doing so. My uncle phoned them once and... yes, they managed to fix it. (I still think they don't take females inquiring about IT related business serious. Oh well.)
As usual I worked at Japari on Monday and Wednesday. Monday wasn't very interesting, but I did go shopping in Parkview after school. I met the lady from the second-hand book store there and she asked me about the books I bought there. It seems she likes to read fantasy, too, so we chatted for a bit. Last week I discussed the prices of books in Europe/Holland/South Africa with her. She seems like a lovely person, and it was good to just have a chat with someone random for a change.
Wednesday was funny, I sat in on some classes of a different teacher (Ingrid - teaching English and Afrikaans) and because she had to go to a meeting I took the last period. We just read from a book (the class had to follow along while I was reading) but a certain learner was being quite impossible (noisy and he kept making faces)... So when I came to this part in the story where it said "Be quiet!" said Zak. I used the opportunity to make myself very clear to this particular learner. The whole class was laughing after that, and it was very funny :D
After that I watched the Japari team play cricket (they won from Glenhazel primary school! Yay!) and sat at the Zoo Lake Sports Club restaurant for the whole afternoon (because cricket matches take ages, quite literally). I had some good coffee and a toasted sandwich, though, so it wasn't too bad. I've also been reading quite a lot (because of the internet being offline) so I found quite a few new words this week.
Finally... I have been working on my SLB portfolio. This lead to a (mildly) sarcastic post over at my other blog Random Breakfast Coffee. Not to be taken too seriously, but it does reflect (pun semi-intended) my view on SLB quite accurately, I'm afraid. (Just want to add this doesn't mean I'm not trying to make an effort for SLB, quite to opposite in fact. I just needed to vent my frustration concerning the challenge that SLB poses to students...)
Words of the week:
Remittance
Crag
Taltry
Pail
Petering out
Parlance
Skeins
Sidereal
Mycelium
Gangling
Scufflings
Wencher
Cochineal
Kenned
Rife
Sidled
Girders
Frondescence
Assuager
Loquaciously
Fashed
Twanging
Coppice
simulacrum
flanges
gurruping
tangential
Our internet connection has been giving us some trouble yet again. I phoned both Mweb and Telkom (service provider as well as the telephone company that handles the actual line-related things) but got nowhere in doing so. My uncle phoned them once and... yes, they managed to fix it. (I still think they don't take females inquiring about IT related business serious. Oh well.)
As usual I worked at Japari on Monday and Wednesday. Monday wasn't very interesting, but I did go shopping in Parkview after school. I met the lady from the second-hand book store there and she asked me about the books I bought there. It seems she likes to read fantasy, too, so we chatted for a bit. Last week I discussed the prices of books in Europe/Holland/South Africa with her. She seems like a lovely person, and it was good to just have a chat with someone random for a change.
Wednesday was funny, I sat in on some classes of a different teacher (Ingrid - teaching English and Afrikaans) and because she had to go to a meeting I took the last period. We just read from a book (the class had to follow along while I was reading) but a certain learner was being quite impossible (noisy and he kept making faces)... So when I came to this part in the story where it said "Be quiet!" said Zak. I used the opportunity to make myself very clear to this particular learner. The whole class was laughing after that, and it was very funny :D
After that I watched the Japari team play cricket (they won from Glenhazel primary school! Yay!) and sat at the Zoo Lake Sports Club restaurant for the whole afternoon (because cricket matches take ages, quite literally). I had some good coffee and a toasted sandwich, though, so it wasn't too bad. I've also been reading quite a lot (because of the internet being offline) so I found quite a few new words this week.
Finally... I have been working on my SLB portfolio. This lead to a (mildly) sarcastic post over at my other blog Random Breakfast Coffee. Not to be taken too seriously, but it does reflect (pun semi-intended) my view on SLB quite accurately, I'm afraid. (Just want to add this doesn't mean I'm not trying to make an effort for SLB, quite to opposite in fact. I just needed to vent my frustration concerning the challenge that SLB poses to students...)
Words of the week:
Remittance
Crag
Taltry
Pail
Petering out
Parlance
Skeins
Sidereal
Mycelium
Gangling
Scufflings
Wencher
Cochineal
Kenned
Rife
Sidled
Girders
Frondescence
Assuager
Loquaciously
Fashed
Twanging
Coppice
simulacrum
flanges
gurruping
tangential
zondag 19 september 2010
Yom Kippur and another week gone by
12 weeks left, time is starting to move faster for me now!
Saturday was Yom Kippur, a day of fasting and praying for forgiveness for the Jewish people. As I'm not Jewish myself I fasted for only part of the day (Friday night until around 11 on Saturday) but I did stay away from coffee and I didn't eat as much as I normally would during the day. My aunt and uncle went to the synagogue, I decided to have a little reading marathon myself. Books I've finished since last updating my booklist:
- The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)
- The Way of Shadows (Brent Weeks)
- Specials (Scott Westerfeld)
And a compilation of 3 short 'war stories for girls' (didn't have anything to read and my cousin had this book).
The Book Thief was amazing, and I can certainly recommend this to anyone. In fact, I'm hoping they'll make a movie out of it, because I'd love to see it.
I'm now reading the second book in the Night Angel trilogy (Brent Weeks) and "The Lightning Thief" (I have to confess I have this exciting affair with young adult novels - easy to read, lots of adventure... I love it!).
On Saturday night we visited my uncle's parents to break the fast. We had a wonderful meal of fried fish, different salads (pasta, rice, cabbage) and cakes, kichel (sweet crackers they usually eat with fish - I like them plain) and lemon meringue etc. etc. Very nice!
Oh and have some pictures of our Sukkah! The festival of Sukkot (plural of Sukkah) is coming up, it's a time when the Jewish people remember the time they spent in the desert before being allowed to enter the lands of Israel. You eat in the Sukkah (a hut with palm leafs - you have to be able to see the stars through the roof, but it also has to provide shade) and invite people over for meals... It lasts a week!
My aunt painted the scene
Completed:
On Thursday I had the best experience I've had so far. I went with my aunt to collect some money at a client and we chatted to this lady for about 5 minutes. After a short while my aunt decided to introduce me, saying "Oh, this is my niece from Holland!" and you know what the lady said?
"Oh really? Your English is amazing! I didn't hear any accent!" (I know that 'no accent' doesn't exist, but still!). I've heard all sorts of things "You're German aren't you?" (At Japari) and even "Are you Scottish?" (well... no!) but this is the first time that I've heard the 'no accent' comment so I'm insanely happy with that!
That said... I think that while I'm finally starting to get the hang of this bat/bet problem and my th's are starting to feel more natural to me... I still have a long way to go. The 'oo' in 'book' is still hard to get right...
When we're on language related things, could you explain "He had his daughter kidnapped." in two ways? I said this, meaning that 'He' had it happen to him (someone else kidnapped his daughter) my aunt keeps telling me I can't say it like that, because it would mean (and could ONLY mean) that he arranged to have his daughter kidnapped, himself. In my opinion this sentence isn't different from "He had his car stolen" (i.e. it happened to him) but... well, just double checking. I'd say in the kidnapping one it's pretty ambiguous who arranged what, if anything.
Back to South African life...
Summer is still a while away, but the weather has been improving. Yesterday I took a dive and did 21 lengths in our pool. The water is still a bit chilly, but once you're in it it's wonderful! I just need to swim more often, because after 21 lengths I had some trouble lifting myself out of the water at the deep end! Haha... Well, at least it's something that's nicer here than in the Netherlands. Maybe I'll swim again today, I think I should. The South African lifestyle is kind of lazy, because you have to drive everywhere... I need the swimming!
And finally... We managed to get our internet connection sorted out! I'm online using my own laptop (Sephiroth) at the moment and it's such a wonderful feeling to know that whenever I need it, or just want it, the internet is there for me. Even at a max of 376 kb/s. (But hey, we have a pool in our garden! Bet you you can't say that! Even with your super fast internet!) So while I'm waiting for my downloads to finish (at about 10-20 kb/s) I'll just have a cup of rooibos and take a swim.
Saturday was Yom Kippur, a day of fasting and praying for forgiveness for the Jewish people. As I'm not Jewish myself I fasted for only part of the day (Friday night until around 11 on Saturday) but I did stay away from coffee and I didn't eat as much as I normally would during the day. My aunt and uncle went to the synagogue, I decided to have a little reading marathon myself. Books I've finished since last updating my booklist:
- The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)
- The Way of Shadows (Brent Weeks)
- Specials (Scott Westerfeld)
And a compilation of 3 short 'war stories for girls' (didn't have anything to read and my cousin had this book).
The Book Thief was amazing, and I can certainly recommend this to anyone. In fact, I'm hoping they'll make a movie out of it, because I'd love to see it.
I'm now reading the second book in the Night Angel trilogy (Brent Weeks) and "The Lightning Thief" (I have to confess I have this exciting affair with young adult novels - easy to read, lots of adventure... I love it!).
On Saturday night we visited my uncle's parents to break the fast. We had a wonderful meal of fried fish, different salads (pasta, rice, cabbage) and cakes, kichel (sweet crackers they usually eat with fish - I like them plain) and lemon meringue etc. etc. Very nice!
Oh and have some pictures of our Sukkah! The festival of Sukkot (plural of Sukkah) is coming up, it's a time when the Jewish people remember the time they spent in the desert before being allowed to enter the lands of Israel. You eat in the Sukkah (a hut with palm leafs - you have to be able to see the stars through the roof, but it also has to provide shade) and invite people over for meals... It lasts a week!
My aunt painted the scene
Completed:
On Thursday I had the best experience I've had so far. I went with my aunt to collect some money at a client and we chatted to this lady for about 5 minutes. After a short while my aunt decided to introduce me, saying "Oh, this is my niece from Holland!" and you know what the lady said?
"Oh really? Your English is amazing! I didn't hear any accent!" (I know that 'no accent' doesn't exist, but still!). I've heard all sorts of things "You're German aren't you?" (At Japari) and even "Are you Scottish?" (well... no!) but this is the first time that I've heard the 'no accent' comment so I'm insanely happy with that!
That said... I think that while I'm finally starting to get the hang of this bat/bet problem and my th's are starting to feel more natural to me... I still have a long way to go. The 'oo' in 'book' is still hard to get right...
When we're on language related things, could you explain "He had his daughter kidnapped." in two ways? I said this, meaning that 'He' had it happen to him (someone else kidnapped his daughter) my aunt keeps telling me I can't say it like that, because it would mean (and could ONLY mean) that he arranged to have his daughter kidnapped, himself. In my opinion this sentence isn't different from "He had his car stolen" (i.e. it happened to him) but... well, just double checking. I'd say in the kidnapping one it's pretty ambiguous who arranged what, if anything.
Back to South African life...
Summer is still a while away, but the weather has been improving. Yesterday I took a dive and did 21 lengths in our pool. The water is still a bit chilly, but once you're in it it's wonderful! I just need to swim more often, because after 21 lengths I had some trouble lifting myself out of the water at the deep end! Haha... Well, at least it's something that's nicer here than in the Netherlands. Maybe I'll swim again today, I think I should. The South African lifestyle is kind of lazy, because you have to drive everywhere... I need the swimming!
And finally... We managed to get our internet connection sorted out! I'm online using my own laptop (Sephiroth) at the moment and it's such a wonderful feeling to know that whenever I need it, or just want it, the internet is there for me. Even at a max of 376 kb/s. (But hey, we have a pool in our garden! Bet you you can't say that! Even with your super fast internet!) So while I'm waiting for my downloads to finish (at about 10-20 kb/s) I'll just have a cup of rooibos and take a swim.
woensdag 28 juli 2010
Book list and reading
I just finished reading 'Rebecca' by Daphne du Maurier. I liked it better than either Sense and Sensibility or Wuthering Heights - so that's good news! In case anyone (read: My SLBer) is interested, my book list of everything I've read in 2010 is located over here.
I usually write a short review (sometimes long, sometimes just a few sentences) about any books I finish, and I figured I might post those here, too.
Rebecca
So, yes ... Rebecca. This novel was recommended to me by a few people over at a forum for a certain fantasy series. I made a topic about exploring other (sub-)genres and several members said they liked 'Rebecca', so I decided to give it a try.
One of the first things that I noticed was that du Maurier tends to overuse the word 'rhododendron'. (It's one of my favourite words, I mean... just look at it, it's almost perfect. Aesthetically pleasing and it sounds good, too. Overexposure can make you immune to the loveliness of some things, so this is definitely not a good thing.) I really liked the imaginary she uses throughout the book. The writing style is not as dry as some other classics tend to be, and after a few chapters it was quite a relaxing read.
One of my favourite quotes:
Happiness is not a possession to be prized, it is a quality of thought, a state of mind.
Favell must be my favourite character. He's annoying and rather strange, the way he's obsessed with Rebecca (I suppose every character was just that, obsessed - in their own way.). It all makes him a rather interesting character, although not very likeable. Beatrice was also a good character.
I gave 'Rebecca' 3 out of 5 stars on Shelfari, but in reality it deserves at least 3 1/2. It's not really 'my genre' so that's why I didn't rate it higher than that... But on a second read-through I might enjoy it even more. Maybe in a few years...
I usually write a short review (sometimes long, sometimes just a few sentences) about any books I finish, and I figured I might post those here, too.
Rebecca
So, yes ... Rebecca. This novel was recommended to me by a few people over at a forum for a certain fantasy series. I made a topic about exploring other (sub-)genres and several members said they liked 'Rebecca', so I decided to give it a try.
One of the first things that I noticed was that du Maurier tends to overuse the word 'rhododendron'. (It's one of my favourite words, I mean... just look at it, it's almost perfect. Aesthetically pleasing and it sounds good, too. Overexposure can make you immune to the loveliness of some things, so this is definitely not a good thing.) I really liked the imaginary she uses throughout the book. The writing style is not as dry as some other classics tend to be, and after a few chapters it was quite a relaxing read.
One of my favourite quotes:
Happiness is not a possession to be prized, it is a quality of thought, a state of mind.
Favell must be my favourite character. He's annoying and rather strange, the way he's obsessed with Rebecca (I suppose every character was just that, obsessed - in their own way.). It all makes him a rather interesting character, although not very likeable. Beatrice was also a good character.
I gave 'Rebecca' 3 out of 5 stars on Shelfari, but in reality it deserves at least 3 1/2. It's not really 'my genre' so that's why I didn't rate it higher than that... But on a second read-through I might enjoy it even more. Maybe in a few years...
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